We Indians are fast when it comes to adapting the best of the West. Earlier this year, following the massive social media success of the #IceBucketChallenge – an ALS awareness initiative that started in the US and gained momentum through social tagging, a number of creative social tagging campaigns have sprung up in the country.

The most popular being the one spearheaded by PM Modi for his ambitious ‘Swachch Bharat Abhiyan’ or the ‘Clean India Mission’ where our Prime Minister has mobilised all Indians to play an active role in India’s cleanliness. One can participate by cleaning up their locality, taking pictures and tagging their friends to continue the chain. Modi started the movement by nominating 9 influential personalities from politics, media, sports, and more.

Taking a cue from the same, ecommerce major, Snapdeal has come up with the #GoodDeedWithSnapdeal campaign that uses social media for doing good and spreading good. The rules for participation are simple: do a good deed, take a video or photo of the same and post it on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, nominate two of your friends to do a good deed and appreciate good deeds by others.

The brand is only asking participants to use the campaign hashtag “#GoodDeedWithSnapdeal” in their posts. This way the hashtag could be used to raise awareness about a multitude of issues and encourage people to share issues they care about.

#GoodDeedWithSnapdeal on social media

On the digital front, the campaign has a dedicated page where you can participate and also appreciate good deeds shared by others. Alternately, an app has also been created on the Snapdeal Facebook page for its more than 2.8 million fans. A short video captures all about the campaign:

Snapdeal, on its part, is also playing an active role in doing good deeds and nominating others to do the same. On World Aids Day, Snapdeal sold condoms at Re.1, as part of its #GoodDeedWithSnapdeal campaign and #REXTalk – a safe sex initiative launched by Durex India and NGO SAI. Popular politician and Twitter celebrity, Shashi Tharoor has also joined the movement by launching Snapdeal’s Disability store for the differently abled on International Day of Persons With Disabilities.

To provide direct market reach to thousands of weavers and artisans in Varanasi, Snapdeal teamed up with India Post, the world’s most widely distributed postal system in a pilot project. Through the hashtag, Snapdeal has brought to fore many issues that needed awareness and people support. A few of the initiatives have been shared in the tweets below:

Encouraging via interesting visuals

The social media properties of Snapdeal have been sharing interesting visuals to support the campaign. Along with the Facebook app, the brand’s Facebook and Twitter timelines are encouraging the community to join in the movement:

Integrated, engaging and rewarding

Leveraging the power and reach of social media for a social cause is possibly the best way to spread a people-powered movement like #GoodDeedWithSnapdeal. Snapdeal has indeed scored a winner in this campaign. Not only does it have the capability to mobilise people towards a social cause using the viral nature of social media, the campaign also helps the ecommere company build a positive brand image for itself.

The ‘good deeds’ it has embarked on along with strategic partnerships with other organizations and creating a social chain of change makers is beyond a one-time CSR campaign. It is more of a long term initiative with positive returns for the company. The use of visuals, a dedicated website, popular social networks and a branded hashtag have made it a memorable brand initiative and helped build a deeper connect with its consumers.